50 Awesomely Patriotic Sports Pictures

The Fourth of July holiday is nearly upon us. American Independence Day! The day in which we as a nation celebrate our unlikely victory over Great Britain in the Revolutionary War and shedding English colonial rule in order to form a more perfect union.

Naturally, our means of celebration usually include consuming massive amounts of picnic food and various alcoholic beverages, and then, when it gets dark, fireworks. A more perfect union, indeed.

Seriously, does it get any more perfect than family, friends, food, fireworks and booze? A federal holiday that essentially gives the country carte blanche to get drunk and say needlessly mean things about England while the rockets red glare, and bombs bursting in air, paints a glorious backdrop for the scene.

Most Americans like England, even if the sentiment isn't returned, but on July 4, they're nothing more than the dried-up husk that America came out of. And no apologies are necessary, because when you've been kicking ass and taking names since 1776…haters gonna hate!

Honestly, we're a patriotic bunch most of the year. Displaying the flag proudly at our homes is probably second only to displaying it on our bodies. And there are few situations in which high-fives and chants of "USA! USA! USA!" are considered anything but a welcomed addition.

We may be politically divided as a nation internally, but when it comes to uniting against the world in sports: united we stand.

Here are 50 awesomely patriotic sports pictures, just to wet your whistle for the bonanza of American pride that is going to drop next week.

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George Frey/Getty Images

Date: June 18, 2013

Event: United States vs. Honduras, FIFA 2014 World Cup Qualifier

Awesome America Fact: The U.S. is home to just one royal palace ever used by a monarch. The royal Iolani Palace in Honolulu was home to King Kalakaua and Queen Lili'uokalani before they were overthrown in 1883. Hawaii became a state in 1959, and the palace is a museum today.

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Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Date: Feb. 20, 2010

Event: Vancouver Olympics, Day 9

Awesome America Fact: President Andrew Johnson was a tailor by trade before getting into politics. He would only wear suits that he made himself. As president, he would stop by a local tailor shop just to say hello. And…who knows…perhaps offer a little advice?

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Harry How/Getty Images

Date: Aug. 12, 2012

Event: London Olympics, Day 16

Awesome America Fact: Before adopting the stars and stripes, one of the early American flags had a picture of a coiled rattlesnake, which was a symbol of resistance against the British rule in the colonies.

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Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

Date: July 18, 2010

Event: 139th Open Championship, Final Round

Awesome America Fact: We invented the Internet. The origin dates back to the establishment of the Advanced Research Projects Agency in 1958, which was formed in response to the launch of the USSR's Sputnik satellite.

ARPA efforts resulted in the first uses of the early Internet in the 1970s. It wasn't until 1993 that the World Wide Web came into existence, which many confuse with the birth of the Internet. Like…Al Gore. (And yes, that is John Daly's crotch.)

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Stanley Chou/Getty Images

Date: Aug. 6, 2012

Event: London Olympics, Day 10

Awesome America Fact: At the University of California in 1940, future president Ronald Reagan won the "Most Nearly Perfect Male Figure Award." Seriously. Not long after, he put his assets to use as the star and narrator of countless WWII propaganda films.

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Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images

Date: Sept. 11, 2011

Event: Indianapolis Colts vs. Houston Texans

Awesome America Fact: The "M" in Richard M. Nixon stood for Milhous. The "F" in John F. Kennedy stood for Fitzgerald. The "S" in Harry S Truman actually doesn't stand for anything—which means that, technically, there shouldn't be a period next to it.

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Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Date: Feb. 3, 2013

Event: Super Bowl XlVII

Awesome America Fact: The original English settlement at Jamestown in 1607 didn't have a promising start. Between 1609-10, starving colonists died en masse, with only 61 of 500 colonists surviving the period.

Things got really ugly, and evidence suggests they even resorted to cannibalism. Yet they pressed on and eventually conditions began to improve significantly. Not even starvation-forced cannibalism can keep America down.

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Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Date: Aug. 31, 2010

Event: U.S. Open, Day 2

Awesome America Fact: No signers of the Declaration of Independence were technically born in the United States, as it didn't exist until the document was signed. However, all but eight of them were born in the colonies. Nine of the signers died before the American Revolution ended in 1783.

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Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

Date: Sept. 2, 2012

Event: AdvoCare 500

Awesome America Fact: In February 1948, the National Association for Stock Car Racing—or NASCAR—was officially incorporated. It has since become one of the country's most popular spectator sports, as well as a…well, kind of a way of life for many fans. NASCAR is not just a sport, it's a lifestyle.

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Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Date: Oct. 6, 2009

Event: Australian Paralympic Youth Games

Awesome America Fact: During his second run for the presidency, Teddy Roosevelt was shot in the chest by a would-be assassin in Milwaukee. He fished the speech with a bullet lodged in his chest before seeking medical attention.

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Stanley Chou/Getty Images

Date: Aug. 6, 2012

Event: London Olympics, Day 10

Awesome America Fact: It took 100 days to physically frame the Constitution. Literally frame it, as in put it in a frame for display and protection. It's that kind of attention to detail that makes our nation so great.

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Jamie McDonald/Getty Images

Date: Sept. 16, 2008

Event: Paralympics, Day 10

Awesome America Fact: President Thomas Jefferson wrote the entire first draft of the Declaration of Independence and was extremely unhappy with edits made to the document. All the original language condemning the slave trade was removed, despite objections from Jefferson.

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Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Date: July 31, 2012

Event: London Olympics, Day 4

Awesome America Fact: The founding fathers didn't have the benefit of spell check, which is why "Pensylvania" slipped through the editing cracks on the Constitution—one of a number of spelling errors made on the document.

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Stanley Chou/Getty Images

Date: Aug. 3, 2012

Event: London Olympics, Day 7

Awesome America Fact: President Lyndon B. Johnson had absolutely no boundaries or respect of personal space. He was known for meeting with aides while sitting atop his porcelain throne. LBJ also nicknamed his penis "Jumbo" and would occasionally whip it out for demonstrations—or just for fun.

Once during a cabinet meeting, he was asked why the U.S. went into Vietnam. LBJ responded by unleashing Jumbo and yelling, "This is why!"

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Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Date: Aug. 9, 2012

Event: London Olympics, Day 13

Awesome America Fact: We invented spandex. The skin-tight synthetic material was created by Joseph Shivers, a DuPont chemist, in 1959. It's safe to say the sports world hasn't been the same since—and the world owes it all to America.

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Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Date: July 28, 2012

Event: London Olympics, Day 1

Awesome America Fact: We invented barbed wire. In 1867, an Ohio man first patented barbed wire, an invention that now decorates penal institutions world-wide. Unfortunately, it also decorates the arms of countless bros in tattoo form—our great national shame.

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Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Date: Aug. 8, 2012

Event: London Olympics, Day 12

Awesome America Fact: The U.S. flag as we know it today was designed by a schoolboy named Robert Heft in Lancaster, Ohio., back in 1958 as part of a school project. He received a B- for the design because his teacher said it "lacked creativity." Congress was easier to impress, apparently.

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Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

Date: March 22, 2013

Event: Costa Rica vs. United States, FIFA 2014 World Cup Qualifier

Awesome America Fact: There are nine states in the U.S. in which cattle outnumber humans, sometimes by substantial numbers: Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma and Wyoming. Talk about one of the most predictable lists ever.

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Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Date: July 27, 2012

Event: London Olympics, Opening Day

Awesome America Fact: Former presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on the very same day in 1826—July 4. It was the 50th anniversary of the vote to approve the Declaration of Independence. You couldn't have written a better story...

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Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Date: June 2, 2013

Event: FedEx 300 Benefiting Autism Speaks

Awesome America Fact: When the constitutional convention convened, (future) presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were both serving as U.S. ministers overseas and, therefore, did not sign the Constitution.

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Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Date: Feb. 20, 2010

Event: Vancouver Olympics, Day 9

Awesome America Fact: The U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million back in 1867—which boils down to about two cents per acre. That has got to boil their blood to this day. It's a wonder a shirtless Vladimir Putin with an army of Siberian tigers hasn't come to reclaim it.

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Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Date: July 4, 2009

Event: Goodwood Festival of Speed

Awesome America Fact: Presidents James Madison and Thomas Jefferson had an interesting run-in with the law in 1791.

They were in Vermont on an official "botanizing excursion," when they were arrested for riding in a carriage on a Sunday, which was against the law there at the time. Turned out, they just used botany as an excuse to get out of Philadelphia for a while—see what happens when you lie?

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Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Date: April 12, 2013

Event: O'Reilly Auto Parts 300, Practice

Awesome America Fact: The United States is the third-largest country in the world in terms of land mass. It occupies just 100,000 square miles less than Canada, but Russia nearly doubles both countries in size, coming in at approximately 6,600,000 square miles.

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Stanley Chou/Getty Images

Date: July 26, 2012

Event: London Olympics, Opening Ceremony

Awesome America Fact: At the 2012 Olympics in London, American swimmer Michael Phelps surpassed Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina as the most decorated athlete of all time. Phelps now has 22 total Olympic medals, trumping Latynina's total of 18.

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Clive Rose/Getty Images

Date: July 30, 2012

Event: London Olympics, Day 3

Awesome America Fact: Abraham Lincoln was the very first president to be photographed at his inauguration. He happened to be standing just a few feet away from John Wilkes Booth in the photo, who would later assassinate him.

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Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

Date: June 23, 2010

Event: United States vs. Algeria, 2010 FIFA World Cup

Awesome America Fact: The word "democracy" does not appear once in the Constitution. Actually, you'd be surprised how many things aren't in the Constitution that many people vehemently insist are there.

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Chris Pondy/Getty Images

Date: Sept. 11, 2011

Event: San Diego Padres vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

Awesome America Fact: We invented baseball. Although there were some primitive versions of the game played in North America and Europe dating back to the 18th century, the modern-day sport didn't come into being until 1845, when American Alexander Cartwright wrote an official set of regulated rules. He's often referred to as the "Father of Baseball."

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Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

Date: March 22, 2013

Event: Costa Rica vs. United States, FIFA 2014 World Cup Qualifier

Awesome America Fact: President Gerald Ford worked as a male model in college and later worked as a forest ranger at Yellowstone National Park, directing traffic and feeding the bears. Which is very interesting, because I'm pretty sure feeding the bears is frowned upon these days—lest ye be eaten by one.

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Awesome America Fact: From its founding at the University of Minnesota in 1898 until 1923, cheerleading was a "male only" activity.

Women were slowly introduced, but it wasn't until the 1940s that they overtook cheerleading and became the majority force—mostly because the men were all going to fight in the war. So if it wasn't for WWII, this hot lady could very well be a dude.

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Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Date: Dec. 16, 2012

Event: Detroit Lions vs. Arizona Cardinals

Awesome America Fact: Cheerleading is uniquely American and was invented right here in 1898. The first cheerleaders were formed by a "pep club" at the University of Minnesota as part of a plan to get the crowd more involved with the final game of their season against Northwestern. It was a very successful endeavor and began to grow and expand from there.

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However, the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council believes the actual number of hot dogs consumed is likely much larger. They peg it around 20 billion, if you add in hot dogs consumed at sporting events, local picnics and carnivals.

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Donald Miralle/Getty Images

Date: Sept. 11, 2011

Event: Minnesota Vikings vs. San Diego Chargers

Awesome America Fact: Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world above sea level, but Hawaii's Mauna Kea is the tallest, when measured from the sea floor. It's actually 3,000 feet taller than Everest but only about 13,800 of those feet are above sea level.

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Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Date: Sept. 10, 2011

Event: San Jose State vs. UCLA

Awesome America Fact: Americans have never been fond of paying their taxes—it's why the United States exists today. But when treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton implemented a tax on domestically produced whiskey in 1791, it led to an all-out rebellion (the Whiskey Rebellion).

The farmers of Western Pennsylvania that distilled it began a fight that would last three years before Hamilton convinced president George Washington to finally squash it once and for all by dispatching a militia force of 13,000.

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Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Date: June 9, 2013

Event: Party in the Poconos 400

Awesome America Fact: President Abraham Lincoln was the only U.S. president who had "licensed bartender" on his resume. Before ascending to the presidency, Lincoln was the co-owner of a Springfield saloon, in his native Illinois, called "Berry and Lincoln."

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Awesome America Fact: Frankfurters were first referred to as "hot dogs" by a cartoonist who saw a vendor selling "hot dachshund sausages" at a baseball game, which amused him.

The concessionaires would walk through the stands shouting, "Get your red-hot dachshund sausages!" But when he went to caption the cartoon they inspired, he couldn't spell the name of the dog, opting for "Get your hot dogs" instead.

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Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

Date: Sept. 11, 2011

Event: Tennessee Titans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

Awesome America Fact: Most mini-American flags are made in China, and a large portion of American flags in general are made in China. That sounds not awesome on the surface, but it's only because the demand is so incredibly high that we had to outsource the production in order to keep up with demand and keep prices reasonable.

We love America so much that we're willing to let the China thing slide, just so we can make sure every man, woman and child in this great nation has as many American flags as he or she desires.

Abortions for some...miniature American flags for others! Yay! (If you don't know the source of that line, shame on you!)